One approach to building supercomputers is to interconnect any number of common PCs using an interface like Ethernet. This method, called clustering or "Beowulf" clustering, produces very inexpensive powerful computers whose capabilities would previously have cost millions of dollars. Now for a few tens of thousands of dollars, very powerful computers can be built for any number of computing solutions. From scientific applications to transaction processing, clustering technology provides an affordable, scalable computing solution.Building Linux Clusters introduces the reader to the basics of cluster installation and configuration, and comes complete with a CD full of cluster installation programs and tools for parallel programming. Focusing on the "how to" of building a Linux cluster, this book is a hands-on guide for people new to clustering. It is the definitive guide to scaling Linux for scientific and enterprise applications.

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The cover image of a bison and its calf is adapted from a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Hanna Dyer designed the cover layout based on a series design by Edie Freedman. Emma Colby produced the cover with QuarkXPress 4.1 and Adobe Photoshop 5.5 software, using the ITC Garamond Condensed font. Alicia Cech and David Futato designed the interior layouts, based on a series design created by Edie Freedman and Jennifer Niederst and modified by Nancy Priest. Mike Sierra implemented the design in Framemaker 5.5.6. Interior fonts are ITC Garamond and Constant Willison. Chapter opening graphics are from the Dover Pictorial Archive and Marvels of the New West. Lar Kaufman suggested the western theme for O'Reilly's Linux series. Emma Colby designed the CD label.Nicole Arigo and Sarah Jane Shangraw copyedited Building Linux Clusters; Paulette A. Miley proofread the text. Claire Cloutier, Jane Ellin, and Sarah Jane Shangraw provided quality control. Robert Romano and Rhon Porter created the illustrations using Adobe Photoshop 5 and Macromedia FreeHand 8. Judy Hoer wrote the index. Interior composition was done by Darren Kelly, Emily Quill, Molly Shangraw, and Sarah Jane Shangraw.Whenever possible, our books use a durable and flexible lay-flat binding. If the page count exceeds that binding's limit, perfect binding is used.

My college instructor got this for me so I could learn and teach clustering. I've had to do so much digging on this stuff that it wasn't funny. The book is fine, and it walks you through things to my satisfaction. It has lots of helpful programs too. However, the scripts for installation are horrific. The procedures in the book don't work the way they should, because the CD isn't quite right. I am glad I wasn't the one who bought this book. The other down side is that you don't learn the manual way to set things up. The reality of it is, I want to know how to build clusters with whatever version of linux I may find. If the CD weren't so messed up, I'd say this is a good book for beginning clusters, but as is... find something else.

A complete waste of money. I spent two weeks hunting the book down, and when I finally got hold of a copy, I found it to be a nice way of installing Linux, but with little or no constructive help in building a cluster. I am deeply disappointed in this book, and will endeveour to get my money back. The author could at least put CD up dates on a website.

I've been an avid O'Reilly fan for many years. That won't change. But I'll never plunk down $50 to buy another O'Reilly book before I've had the chance to slip beneath it's covers. The simple fact that the figures in Chapter 2 were all confused was enough to put me off... the rest of the book is hardly very helpful. Having managed a 70-node Pentium cluster for a few years now... I'm very disappointed; I was hoping to find more useful information.

No tags here. Just a simple note: I waited eagerly for this book, pestering bookstores from coast to coast until I heard about each revised release date. You can imagine my extreme disappointment when I finally got my hands on the real thing. But you don't have to imagine, just read the reviews from others. What I find most disheartening is the apparent absence of any response on O'Reilly's part. We are all rabid O'Reilly fans. If this author is not competent to correct his own mistakes, why hasn't our favorite publisher found someone else to clean up the mess? We paid good money, and expect O'Reilly product. I've been biding my time, waiting for something to change on the site, but it has been about half a year already, and no apparent response from O'R.

On the other side of the coin, I needed information about DNS. Couldn't find the O'Reilly, so I bought another publisher's book called "DNS and BIND", and true to its name, it left me in a bind. It was confusing and disorganized. Found the O'Reilly two days later, and what a difference! It was as if the Sun had come out -- it was clear and fun to read. Couldn't you find someone to do this sort of treatment for Clusters, and include a working, tested CD?

Looked very nice at a first glance. I don't really care about typo's and such

but the fact that the most promising part of the software (cluster administration) didn't work at all was a big disappointment. There are so many

mistakes in the software provided, that I can't believe anyone tested this before releasing it. Correcting all the errors and missing parts takes more time than configuring things by hand. I would have expected to find a new, corrected CD-image for downloading by now.

The Kickstart part is fine but needs quite a bit of additional information (you don't need a 4GB HD and you don't have to install software packages you don't need). Not exactly the quality I expect from your company !

They should have called this book linux kick start. This is the feature that really worked. All I can say is that with-out the correct perl and cgi scripts the overall implementation of the books goals are thwardd. I would sugest that O'Reilly contact the author and request the correct scripts and them post them on the web pad. So 'us' the good paying coustomers of these products can actually put them to some use.

This book is the worst ever published by O'Reilly, in my experience. Aside from numerous typos and incorrect diagrams, the core cluster management software on the CD doesn't work.

My only reason for posting another negative review is the hope that O'Reilly will come up with a new version of the CD, and send it to all the reviewers to test before putting out a second edition. In my opinion, the updated CD should be free to anyone who purchased the original book.

If all the errors are corrected, this book would be an extremely valuable and useful reference for anyone interested in Linux clusters.